Café Rouge, Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow
Glutton’s challenge this week; find child friendly restaurants in Glasgow city centre. I began the task with great gusto, only to find that most of the promising offerings were Italian restaurants. That was one night out of three sorted but the other two proved slightly more challenging.
Our family along with our two year old nephew were visiting from Shetland so I wanted something appropriate but a wee bit different too. After reviewing many a kid’s menu I have to say that if your child doesn’t eat chips (there must be some surely) then you’re in bother! Almost every restaurant I looked at had a chip fetish, that and bread crumbed protein. Now I’m not naive enough to think that the average kiddie would expect anything but chicken nuggets and chips in a restaurant, but I did find the choice pretty limited. Incidentally, Wagamama’s kid’s menu was brilliant but we decided not to try it on this occasion, what I did go for was the new Café Rouge in Royal Exchange Square and it proved a good choice.
Café Rouge is a chain restaurant that offers a nice selection of uncomplicated French food in uncomplicated surroundings. The decor in any Café Rouge always makes me smile, it’s like an imaginary French bistro, lots of mirrored art, brass fittings and dark wood - all you need is a man with a moustache and onion garland.....
The menu is varied and inexpensive with ample consideration for smaller appetites, the kids menu is quite good, omelettes and fishcakes made a nice alternative to the bread crumbed norm. There are plenty of familiar Gaelic offerings such as onion soup, rillettes and confit duck as well as a few Moroccan style dishes to provide diversity.
For starter I went for the predictable deep fried Camembert and it was delightful, crispy on the outside and gooey, melting cheesiness in the middle. Served with cranberry sauce and an above average dressed salad I enjoyed every morsel. I stole a taste of the pâté which was a little run of the mill but perfectly reasonable. Other dishes on the table included a decent houmous and fiery Merguez sausage both of which were well received.
Moving on the main course, I opted for the classic steak frites with a peppercorn sauce. The steak was cooked medium rare as ordered, the sauce had a nice flavour but was slightly too alcoholic as if the brandy hadn’t been adequately cooked off and the pot of perfectly seasoned fries were out of this world. My husband’s duck confit was equally well cooked and delicious, the duck had a gutsy whack of flavour and the meat was meltingly tender, the accompanying plum sauce wasn’t too sweet and only some flaccid green beans marred an otherwise great main course. The Toulouse sausage, Breton chicken and beef Bourguignon also received positive feedback.
My adorable nephew at the end of the table seemed to enjoy his sausages, chips and peas and he definitely enjoyed his vanilla ice cream so happy families indeed.
Service was amazing, a proper Glaswegian and slightly gallus waitress proved fantastic entertainment for all, she was full of funny anecdotes but efficient and courteous as well. That combined with the tasty food, quaffable house wine and reasonable bill I was pleased I picked Café Rouge. No fuss, good for kids, families and large parties alike, I’ll definitely be back.
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